To Be or to Become? Moral Responsibility Within the Transition to Community Energy

Abstract

Driven by decarbonisation and pro-environmental movements, the rise of renewable energy sources and decentralised systems poses significant challenges to fossil fuel energy systems. In this evolving landscape, individual energy consumers are transforming into ’prosumers’; they spearhead community energy projects and become agents of sociotechnical system change. Social simulations are designed to comprehend the intricacies of such sociotechnical transformations. Typically, these models underscore the importance of culture, identity, norms, and values in shaping agent behaviour. Nonetheless, they overlook moral responsibility as an important driver of pro-environmental behaviour, a factor supported by empirical evidence. This contribution addresses this oversight by depicting moral responsibility as an individual character trait that develops over time, shaping agents’ actions and guiding agents’ behaviour. Based on the exploration of the abstract agent-based model of community energy, we concluded that while dealing with the control mechanisms of moral responsibility, individual agents start to integrate relevant concerns within their value system and subsequently advance their capacities to act in a morally responsible manner. In conclusion, our contribution outlines a research agenda for further operationalisation and validation of empirical analysis of moral responsibility within social simulation models, highlighting its potential to enhance our understanding of the transitions to community energy.